Labor pledges free Friday buses, but LNP calls it 'a gimmick'

A Labor promise to make bus, ferry and CityCat travel free on Fridays for eight months was "a giveaway gimmick" that would cost ratepayers a 4 per cent rates increase, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said on Sunday morning.

Labor's Brisbane mayoral candidate Rod Harding on Sunday proposed making all Brisbane City Council bus, ferry and CityCat travel free on Fridays for eight months from 1 May until 31 December 2016.

However Mr Harding defended his plan saying it would cost $28.5 million, which Brisbane City Council would repay to Translink under a commercial arrangement to repay the lost revenue and any new services.

If elected, Mr Harding said he would ask the state government to consider running free fares on Friday full-time.

However Labor's Fare Free Friday would need state government approval first because the state government would have to approve receiving less fare revenue.

Advertisement

Mr Harding said he had raised the idea "with the state government" but would not say who he had spoken to about the idea, or their response.

"This is a commercial arrangement that is entered into very frequently, like at State of Origin and Suncorp Stadium," he said.

"This will be an arrangement where we will be re-imbursing the state government, Translink, for the revenue that is foregone," he said.

"So there will be no loss of revenue at all."

He said precedent already existed for the fare-free Fridays.

Brisbane City Council does not receive the fares from public transport.

Fares go to Translink, the state government's public transport body, which co-ordinates all fares and prices and travel journeys.

Brisbane City Council then receives a share of public transport funding from the state government to help it run buses, ferries and CityCats.

However it already costs Brisbane City Council $114.4 million more to run buses, ferries and CityCats (2015-16 year) than it receives in its share of funding back from the state government.

Cr Quirk said the trial was "a giveaway gimmick".

"If he were to implement this permanently it would mean a 4 per cent rate increase for the people of Brisbane," he said on Sunday morning.

"The State Government is responsible for fares and they are undertaking a fare review at the moment," he said.

Cr Quirk believed fare free buses and ferries on Fridays would encourage people from just outside Brisbane – who now use private bus lines to come into Brisbane – to instead drive from their homes to Brisbane's boundaries, park and then catch the free Brisbane buses.

"That will mean parking out streets and parking the park n rides out," he said.

"And we are just not going to see any real impact by it."

Labor plans to attract an extra 49,000 bus and ferry commuters on Fridays over the eight months for the $28.5 million plan.

Mr Harding's promise is based on the model where Translink agrees to provide free public transport during big events in Brisbane, like concerts and major sport events.

Under state government policy Translink allows a person to travel free if they have already made nine trips on their Go Card.

However in some cases the price of public transport is incorporated within the ticket price to the events.

Mr Harding said the idea would boost the numbers of people using buses and ferries in Brisbane and reduce car congestion.

Public transport lobby group Rail Back on Track agreed it would encourage people from larger nearby councils to stop using their bus services, drive to Brisbane's borders and then "ride free".

"Council may also be exposed to unacceptable financial risk with this idea," spokesman Robert Dow said.

"This is particularly likely for Logan 555 passengers, who change at change at Eight Mile Plains, and for Gold Coast / Beenleigh line passengers, who change to the BUZ 150 and 130 routes," he said.

Mr Dow said it made sense to wait for the outcome of the fare review.

"There is already a fares review panel," he said.

"It is only right and proper to await the outcome of that, rather than run roughshod over TransLink."

Queensland Bus Industry Council executive director David Tape said the industry supported any measure to increase bus patronage.

"From what we understand it appears this plan will be entirely council funded with no impact on the ratepayer," Mr Tape said.

"But while we embrace this initiative, certain criteria must be met," he said.

Mr Tape said it could mean more bus drivers and more research to learn where the increased public transport demand came from.

"More buses need more drivers so that is one key area which has to be taken into account, plus we must ensure the right number of routes and services are in place in regions where there is increased demand," he said.